A gardener is working in the garden. When you really work in the garden, you will definitely get dirty. Your hands will get dirty. Your gloves will get dirty. Your clothes will get some splashes. But after you come inside and wash up, you don’t identify yourself with the mud that gets splashed onto you while you’re working in the garden, right?
In the same way, while we are in society, moving amongst people, their emotions get splashed onto our subtle mind, and we identify with them. This is what becomes a problem. We identify, “Oh, this is my emotion. This is my anger! This is my greed!” Whether the emotions are positive or negative, we identify with them. And then we try to get rid of them. It’s not an easy job. It’s like the gardener who thinks some mud that is on him will not go away.
Similarly, you’re working in your office, and you are peaceful. You have done a good meditation. But your boss is uptight, and there is some problem, and you get agitated. Someone else’s agitation has latched onto you. and then you think, “Oh! I am angry.”
The clever thing to do is, to not identify yourself with the emotion which has nothing to do with you. You can realize, “I am different from the emotions. The emotions are different from me.”
The clever thing to do is, to not identify yourself with the emotion which has nothing to do with you. You can realize, “I am different from the emotions. The emotions are different from me.”
In Ayurveda there is a practice called Dhootnadi. You go to a doctor on behalf of someone and show your pulse to the doctor. While you’re showing your pulse, you think of the person for whom you have come to collect the medicine. This is called Dhootnadi. It means checking the pulse of a messenger. A messenger comes to collect medicine from the doctor, the messenger’s pulse is taken by the doctor, and the doctor gives the medicine for the person for whom the messenger has come. This is Dhootnadi, reading the nadi by taking the pulse of a messenger. It works because anybody you think of, their emotions and their state of mind latches onto you. Are you getting what I’m saying?
Your mind is like a mirror. When it is like a mirror, whatever comes in front of you is there, reflected in it. But the mirror doesn’t cry “Oh, I got dirty” when a dirty picture comes in front of it. And it doesn’t jump up and say, “Oh, I have got these wonderful qualities.”
When you’re driving, you can see in the mirror that there is a garbage can behind your car. Just imagine the mirror identifying itself with the garbage can. Or, imagine the mirror identifying with some beautiful scenery. In both cases, what would you say? It’s a stupid idea, it’s not the case. The mirror is neither the garbage can, nor the scenery. And that is exactly how it is with our own consciousness.
Our consciousness is like a mirror. Different images come onto it, and they all move away. If we know this, then we’re free. But if we get attached to any of those images, that is bondage. So, wake up! Wake up and see it is a mirror.
When you’re driving, you can see in the mirror that there is a garbage can behind your car. Just imagine the mirror identifying itself with the garbage can. Or, imagine the mirror identifying with some beautiful scenery. In both cases, what would you say? It’s a stupid idea, it’s not the case. The mirror is neither the garbage can, nor the scenery. And that is exactly how it is with our own consciousness.
Our consciousness is like a mirror. Different images come onto it, and they all move away. If we know this, then we’re free. But if we get attached to any of those images, that is bondage. So, wake up! Wake up and see it is a mirror.